[techweb] news on March 6, viewers who have watched the movie "The Wandering Earth 2" may still remember such a clip: scientist Tu Hengyu wants to upload the memory of his daughter who died in a car accident to the "digital life world", so that her daughter can spend a complete life in the digital world.
Today, movies are coming to life. **Renbao Xiaobai used AI to reproduce the daughter who died of illness, and its digital image can not only respond to questions instantly, but also sing a birthday song with her family on her mother's birthday. Some netizens said, "Bao Xiaobai is the realistic version of Tu Hengyu".
In fact, AI digital humans are not new, and they can be used in many scenarios such as live broadcasts and advertisements. Since 2022, some artificial intelligence practitioners have begun to customize "AI digital humans" for ordinary people, and from 2023, everyone can achieve a digital immortality.
TechWeb found that on some e-commerce platforms, there are many stores that do related business, claiming that only a high-definition personal photo and audio of a loved one can "resurrect" a deceased loved one. *From a few yuan to a few hundred yuan, many users have placed orders.
From production to sales, AI "resurrecting" relatives has become an industrial chain.
How does AI "resurrect" loved ones come about?
Since the rise of generative AI, some people have been trying to use AI technology to "resurrect" their loved ones to express their thoughts.
In 2020, Canadian Joshua resurrected his girlfriend in an AI chatbot called Project Deember. This chatbot is developed based on the GPT-3 language model, which can imitate almost any style of conversation as long as it is trained on a specific corpus.
With the continuous iteration of technology, "digital humans" that use AI to simulate real people have exploded, and the figures of deceased relatives have become more concrete.
The implementation process is also not complicated. First of all, it is necessary to collect the data of the deceased loved one, such as **, audio recording, etc., and then use deep learning algorithms to analyze the data to understand the characteristics of the deceased loved one, including their facial expressions, voice features, behavioral habits, etc. This data can be used to train an AI model that can be used to create a virtual deceased loved one that "resurrects" them on the screen and has a conversation with them.
At present, a number of domestic Internet companies have been involved in relevant technical research, and have been implemented in specific scenarios.
Recently, SenseTime used AI technology to resurrect Tang Xiaoou, the founder who died of illness, and from the point of view of **of**, Tang Xiaoou appeared at SenseTime's 2024 annual meeting in the form of a digital human and delivered a speech, with vivid expressions, tones, and small movements.
In February this year, Ali released a new generative AI model emo, which only needs to provide a** and an arbitrary audio file to generate AI that can speak and sing**, and some bloggers used this technology to generate Leslie Cheung singing the Cantonese song "Unconditional"**.
On platforms such as station b, there is no shortage of ** that tells about using AI to "resurrect" relatives and make up for regrets, such as "using AI tools to generate my grandma's virtual digital person", "AI resurrecting my grandmother, using space-time dialogue to make up for my regrets", etc., There are also a large number of nanny-level tutorials that teach you how to resurrect relatives with AI.
In a recent release, he interviewed Zhang Zewei, a practitioner of the first batch of customized AI digital humans for ordinary people, and he said that there are roughly two types of AI digital humans he makes. One is intelligent drive, that is, collecting data such as human image and voice, and making a virtual digital human image that can be used to talk to it. The other is human-driven, that is, to replace the image and voice of the deceased with real people, and interact in real time.
In terms of practical effects, the second one is more realistic. Zhang Zewei said that at present, most people choose this form of live-action playing. Due to the hot demand, Zhang Zewei has completed more than 600 orders for customized AI digital humans within a year, with an average order ranging from a few thousand to 10,000 yuan.
9.For 9 yuan, you can use AI to "resurrect" your loved ones
On some e-commerce platforms, search for "AI resurrection relatives", and you can also see many stores that do related business, claiming that "just provide a high-definition personal photo and audio of a loved one, you can help you realize your wishes", as low as 99 yuan, dozens or hundreds of yuan. Most of these are open source models on the market.
There are also merchants who claim to be self-developed data models, with more detailed service content and multiple levels of charging standards. For example, if you customize your loved one's **talk**, it will cost 199 yuan within 30 seconds, and 50 yuan will be charged for every 30 seconds of extension; Provide at least 60 seconds of family recordings, WeChat voice, ** voice, one-to-one restoration of the voice of relatives, and charge 499 yuan.
According to Zhang Zewei, there is a wide range of users who customize AI digital humans, including young people who want to have digital clones of idols, mothers who want to "resurrect" children who have died of cancer, and fathers who can't meet their children for special reasons and want to use digital clones to accompany their children.
In his view, the core of AI digital humans is to solve the "companionship problem". However, a practical problem at present is that AI fraud is frequent, and many of them are deceived in huge amounts, coupled with the traditional concept of Chinese, there are still many potential risks behind AI "resurrection" of relatives.
The legal and ethical risks behind it are yet to be resolved
On March 1, Andy Lau Film Company @ Yingyi Entertainment issued a solemn statement reminding everyone to be vigilant against AI speech synthesis**, which attracted widespread attention.
According to the statement, WeChat user "Andy Sharing Group" and its associated ** account "Andy Assembly Number" falsified Andy Lau's voice through information technology means, and continuously released clips and patchwork ** without unauthorized permission, resulting in misidentification by the public, so as to achieve the purpose of using Mr. Liu's popularity to attract traffic, sell goods, and make profits. This act has seriously infringed on Andy Lau's portrait rights, name rights and voice rights, and is suspected of constituting fraud.
With the advancement of science and technology, many management problems have also emerged. We have benefited from the development and progress of AI technology, and we are also destined to face the potential risks brought by this technology in reshaping society, after all, this is not the first time that Andy Lau's experience has been staged.
Last year, up master Aibella used AI technology to "resurrect" her idol Yao Beina, and produced 5 cover songs for her, including "Acacia", "Independent Hanjiang Qu is No Different", and "Under the Sea", which detonated the Internet. Aibella said that the original intention of the editing was to let more people remember and remember Yao Beina, so that Yao Beina's voice could accompany her more.
However, after ** became popular, the discussion on whether this practice is infringing has not stopped. Aibella was also aware of the legal risks he might face, he contacted Yao Beina's family, and after obtaining the consent of Yao Beina's father, he obtained Yao Beina's voice authorization before continuing to create the following **.
In addition to legal risks, AI "resurrecting" loved ones also faces moral judgment. UP master Wu Wuliu previously used AI tools to generate his grandmother's virtual digital person, which touched many people, but many netizens said in the barrage and comment area, "It's terrible, I'm very resistant to artificial intelligence" "I won't use the person I like to do this anyway." He is the only one, not something that AI can imitate. ”
In the traditional concept of the Chinese, such ** seems to be the consumption of the deceased. Some netizens left a message in the comment area, "This is really an ethical and moral crisis, first of all, disrespect for the dead, physical death is death, even if the consciousness can be uploaded, then your personal consciousness as a physical body will die, and any other 'you' is not you." Besides, isn't this the consumption of the dead, as long as you think about it, you may still be someone else's electronic pet after a few hundred years, even if you kiss it, there are ethical problems. In this kind of field, it is necessary to follow up on the legislative and philosophical discussions. ”
In fact, the Provisions on the Administration of Deep Synthesis of Internet Information Services, implemented in January 2023, already stipulate that "where deep synthesis service providers and technical supporters provide biometric information editing functions such as faces and voices, they shall prompt the users of deep synthesis services to inform the individuals being edited in accordance with law and obtain their separate consent." ”
However, if the synthesized sound of a deceased person** is synthesized, the question of who should agree is still unanswered. Perhaps digital life can become a reality in the near future, but one of the questions that must be considered is how to mitigate the legal and ethical risks it faces, and how to regulate it to prevent abuse.